How to get to the San Jose airport

There are three basic routes to reach the San Jose
Airport (Terminals A or B) from Santa Cruz.
(Alaska and Southwest depart from Terminal B; All
other airlines depart from Terminal A.)
The time
required (starting at the Pacific Avenue METRO Center)
varies from 1 hour and 33 minutes to over
two hours, depending on the choice of route and the
time of day. Each route starts with a trip on the
Highway 17 Express.
We describe each of the three routes
below, in order of preference.

Via the 902 Light Rail from San Jose Diridon
station: Take the
Highway 17 Express
to the San Jose Diridon station. Walk west through
the tunnel under the tracks to VTA Light Rail
station platform, where VTA ticket machines are
located, from which you can get a ticket
($2 regular, $1 senior—65 or over).
Take the northbound (toward Mountain View) San Jose
Light Rail 902
train north 9 stops to the Metro/Airport stop. Walk
across the southbound lanes of 1st Street to the bus
shelter to board the westbound
#10 Free Airport Flyer,
which takes five minutes to reach Terminal A and
another two minutes to reach Terminal B.
This route works for both weekdays and
weekends. The total fare from Santa Cruz
is $7.00 ($4.50 if you're 62 – 64; $3.50 if
you're 65 or over).

Via the 901 or 902 Light Rail from
1st Street in downtown San Jose:
This route works for weekdays only.
Take the
Highway 17 Express
to downtown San Jose at 1st Street, where northbound Light Rail
trains typically run every 5 to 7 minutes,
alternating between the
901 and the
902.
(See the photo above for what it looks like.)
From there, take either northbound train to the
Metro/Airport stop and follow the above route from
there. The total time will be almost identical to
the above route, but could be a bit faster since
there are more light rail trains.

Via Caltrain from the San Jose Diridon
Station: This route works for both weekdays and
weekends.
Take the
Highway 17 Express
to the San Jose Diridon station, where a Caltrain
ticket may be obtained from either a machine or from
the lobby counter—$3.00 ($1.50 if you're 65
or over). Then board the
Caltrain, and
get off after only five minutes at the Santa Clara
Station. From there, catch the eastbound
#10 Free Airport Flyer,
which takes 10 minutes to reach
Terminal A and another 2 minutes to reach
Terminal B. This route could take less time
than either of the above routes, but it could take
more time since Caltrains don't run as often as the
light rail. It also costs $1 more.